Foil insulation: Reflective foil insulation, foil backed insulation, foil bubble insulation

Nowadays there are so many different insulation options available to us that it can be incredibly difficult to discern the ones we need from the ones we don’t. It appears that every couple of years a ‘new’ alternative pops up which promises to be far better than anything you’ve encountered before and is marketed as the only choice for home owners. This article is going to help you make the right choice by explaining to you exactly what foil insulation is and help you distinguish whether or not you need it.

Foil insulation is most prominently used in roofs and attics (or lofts to readers from the UK); it works slightly differently to many of the other varieties on the market today. Whilst the majority of insulation we use attempts to resist heat from passing through a home, foil reflects it instead. The great thing about this kind of insulation is that it isn’t a mutually exclusive option; it can be used in combination with a whole variety of different insulation types, allowing you to tailor your home’s heating to your needs.

Before we can talk about how effective this method of insulation is we need to thoroughly understand what it does. Insulation isn’t just intended to help you save on your heating bill; it’s used for preventing the escape or intrusion of heat through a house. Meaning in the winter it will keep your home warm, but in summer it will prevent excess heat from entering too, saving you on air conditioning bills too. Studies carried out measuring the performance of foil insulation have noted that more than 96% of radiant heat is reflected by it, giving home owners a maximum saving on their air conditioning bills (both warming and cooling) of up to a quarter. In addition to the savings incurred by installing reflective foil insulation, many local Governments are offering tax breaks for households that install such insulation.

The price of foil backed insulation depends on the brand you purchase, and naturally your total cost will be reflective of the area which you need insulated. Many home retail companies sell this type of insulation for under 50 cents per square foot; you may even be able to purchase it for cheaper than this. An easy way to work out how much you should expect to pay is just work out the area you need covered, e.g. 300 square feet, and divide it by two, using these numbers it would cost $150 dollars to insulate a 300 square foot area. Of course this is only for the insulation materials; the installation fee will be considerably more.

This brings me rather neatly to my next point; it is advisable that you have this type of insulation installed by a professional if you have no prior experience in the matter. If insulating foil isn’t installed correctly the heat reflection levels in your home will be significantly less, having said that, one of the great benefits of purchasing foil bubble insulation is that it is much safer to handle than many other insulating materials such as fibreglass.